The Trump administration issued an executive order in which it pledged to guarantee Qatar’s security — including by taking military action — if the country were to come under attack.
The order, dated Sept. 29, 2025, was signed three weeks after Israel launched airstrikes targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, which outraged Qatari and American officials and raised questions about the strength of U.S. security guarantees for the Gulf nation.
The executive order appeared to be aimed at reassuring Qatar that such a strike would not happen again. It states that any attack on Qatar would be treated as “a threat to the peace and security of the United States.”
Qatar hosts the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East and, like many of its Gulf neighbors, has regarded the United States as a key guarantor of its security. That made the recent attack by Israel, a close American ally, particularly shocking to Qatari officials.
If Qatar were attacked, the executive order says, the United States should “take all lawful and appropriate measures — including diplomatic, economic, and, if necessary, military — to defend the interests of the United States and of the State of Qatar.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel defended the strikes in September, saying they were part of Israel’s oft-stated mission to avenge the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and ignited the war in Gaza. Mr. Netanyahu has accused the Qatari government of providing a “safe haven” to Hamas.
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